The Awkward Way James Middleton's Wife Met William & Kate

While Meghan Markle once claimed she rubbed Kate Middleton up the wrong way by meeting her for the first time wearing ripped jeans and sans shoes, the future queen's first meeting with her brother's wife Alizee Thevenet was much more successful. As seen in a snippet of James Middleton's memoir "Meet Ella" adapted on Daily Mail, the Princess of Wales' first interaction with her now-sister-in-law featured even less formality ... and apparently, she wasn't bothered one bit. 

Speaking of the early days of James Middleton's relationship with Thevenet, he wrote that he and his new girlfriend had decided on a whim to stay the night at the Middleton siblings' childhood home, which he had a key for. However, he was unaware that while Michael and Carole Middleton were away, his eldest sister and her family were staying the night, too. Imagine his surprise, then, when, as he wrote, "... I'm woken at 7.30am by giggling at the bedroom door. It's George and Charlotte, my nephew and niece. I hadn't realized all three children are staying for the weekend with my sister and William." 

James made his way downstairs without waking Thevenet (or letting her know), and that's where things took a very unexpected twist. "I'm about to take a cup up to Alizee when she appears at the kitchen door. She has just got out of bed, her hair still tousled, and she is wearing one of my shirts," he recounted. Luckily, Thevenet wasn't particularly fazed — something James attributed to her French sensibilities. "She does not panic or rush upstairs to get dressed. Instead, she just greets everyone warmly as if it's not remotely unusual to be meeting her boyfriend's sister and brother-in-law for the first time wearing only an oversized man's shirt," he wrote. Kind of "Gossip Girl," no?

As if meeting the future King and Queen of England in nothing but your boyfriend's shirt wasn't awkward enough, Alizee Thevenet also had Prince George and Princess Charlotte's lines of questioning to contend with. The young royals would have been 3 and 5 years old at the time, respectively. " ... the children are asking all kinds of cheeky questions at 100 miles per hour. How come we weren't there when they went to bed? And who is this lady? Is she your girlfriend? (Cue giggles from both of them.)," James Middleton wrote (via Daily Mail). As with the initial surprise, though, Thevenet took it all in her stride, and James added that everyone got on like a house on fire. In fact, James also revealed that by the end of the next day, Thevenet had gotten her now-sister-in-law's stamp of approval. "When we all hug goodbye I get a special squeeze from Catherine, who whispers in my ear, 'She's just great,'" he recounted. 

James added that Carole Middleton had been just as excited about Thevenet, and it's pretty evident the mother- and daughter-in-law have become exceptionally close since then. Case in point: When she and James married in 2021, she wore Carole's wedding gown. Speaking to Hello about the dress, Thevenet explained, "While talking about dresses with Carole and sharing ideas during lockdown for inspiration, I tried on her wedding dress and fell in love with it."

While no pictures have been shared of the Prince and Princess of Wales at James and Thevenet's wedding at the time of writing, the couple and their kids were in attendance. TBD if Prince George and Princess Charlotte had any remaining questions for their new aunt.